1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to the electronic commerce through communication networks, and, more particularly, to computer program products, systems, and associated methods relating to representing consumer product preference criteria.
2. Background
The best deals often do not last long. The best deals usually have a relatively low price because the seller wants to sell the item quickly. In the electronic commerce industry, a “best deal” item is posted and typically sells very quickly; by the time many consumers find the listing or next check the electronic commerce website, the item has already sold. As a result, when searching for a deal on a product, including, for example, automobiles and consumer electronics, some consumers frequently monitor an electronic commerce website, unnecessarily and often unproductively consuming computer resources for the consumer as well as the electronic commerce website.
Merchants can use alerts to announce specials and promotions, including, for example, daily e-mails. Merchants can also use market segmentation to direct different alerts to different market segments based on demographics of the recipients, including age and geography. For example, consumers in one zip code may receive a different promotional e-mail alert than consumers in another zip code, and teenagers may receive different promotional e-mail alerts than senior citizens. Yet these approaches are typically driven by supply as opposed to demand. A demand-based approach, for example, can limit the promotional e-mails to consumers that have expressed interest in the particular product of the promotion.
Sellers, particularly post-retail sellers, such as, e.g., a private seller of a used car, often rely on published pricing guides, e.g., the KELLEY BLUE BOOK guide for vehicles, and advertisements for similar products in order to determine a selling price, rather than the actual market demand data. As a result, for example, sellers often set too high a price, so that the item fails to sell in the desired timeframe, or too low a price, so that the seller fails to receive a market price and leaves money on the table. The seller also doesn't have insight into where the demand falls and at what price. By understanding the price at which the demand increases, the seller could price and sell their product more quickly.
Likewise, by understanding characteristics of product listings at which demand increases, sellers could better position and sell their products.